Former MEGADETH Guitarist CHRIS BRODERICK Praises KIKO LOUREIRO: 'He's A Phenomenal Player'

Former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick has praised his replacement, Kiko Loureiro, calling him a "phenomenal player" who "fits" the band's style.

Loureiro officially joined MEGADETH in April 2015, about five months after Broderick's exit from the group.

Asked by Jason McNamara at this year's NAMM for his opinion of Kiko's musical contribution to MEGADETH, Chris said (see video below): "I think he goes in there and he tears it up. I think he fits the style well, and he's a phenomenal player, of course."

Shortly after Loureiro's addition to MEGADETH, the band's leader, Dave Mustaine, called him "definitely the best guitarist we've ever had." His comments echoed those he made about Broderick during the latter's tenure in the band. Back in 2013, during the making of MEGADETH's "Super Collider" album, Mustaine wrote in a tweet that Chris was "without a doubt the best guitarist I've ever played with."

Mustaine told Revolver magazine that finding Loureiro "was really a mind-blower. It was the first time since Marty Friedman joined the band that I was really intimidated as a player," he said. "He's such an amazing talent, and he's been coming in with all of these fresh ideas." Mustaine added that Kiko was a good fit personality wise. "Chris [Broderick] and I had a good chemistry, but we weren't really as close as I would have wanted us to be," Mustaine explained. "Kiko, I feel like I've known him for years."

In 2009, Mustaine praised Broderick, saying in an online post: "I am going on record and I am saying unequivocally that Chris is THE BEST GUITARIST MEGADETH has ever had. And the real talented musicians in MEGADETH's alumni will agree, he is an absolute monster. I mean, he plays the catalog better than anyone did. Jeff Young never wanted to do Chris Poland's stuff, and so on, and so on, until the last guitarist we had before we disbanded over my arm injury."

Mustaine added: "It's funny, because just when I think [Broderick] can get no more outrageous, or any more thrilling with the guitar solos, he comes up with something really beautiful like Marty Friedman would do (he has Marty pretty well down pat),and then goes into the GIT styles that Jeff Young did, yet, there is still such a freshness to his playing and he is so raw, it's like having a new prize bull. And even though he ain't a such a young bull, he's definitely an old bull like me."